Most of Your Reps Are Underperforming: Does Your Go-to-Market Messaging Need a Refresh?

Does your go-to-market messaging need a refresh?

Answer: Almost certainly.

A recent study showed that in 4 out of 5 buying situations, Buyers see no meaningful difference among the solutions they examine. Across the board, vendors are failing to demonstrate 1) how their offerings differ and 2) how those differences are of value to Buyers. If half or more of your sales reps are not attaining quota and you are not willing to admit that you are probably in the 80% that is not showing meaningful differentiation, you need to slow down and adopt a more open mind. This is not a time to be defensive. It is a time to seize an unexpected opportunity that can help put you back on track.

An organizational quota attainment rate below 50%, especially if it was above that threshold in the not-too-distant past, could easily signal that your go-to-market messaging needs a refresh. What worked two years ago may no longer resonate in a landscape where both you, your top competitors, and the broader business landscape itself have not been standing still.

Take some time to review what you believe to be your top differentiators in the market. Do they still hold up today? Are there areas where your offering has become vulnerable because of advances by your competitors? Is it possible that a fast follower has overcome your first-mover advantage? Is downward pressure on pricing increasing?

A lot of things in your messaging could have gotten stale. The good news is that through concerted, honest effort, you can quickly get back on track.

Organizations that consistently stay above a 50% quota attainment (oftentimes significantly above) are constantly repeating the exercise below.

Take stock of your current business environment. (The Basics)

1. Make a list of what you currently believe to be your five greatest strengths in the market.

2. Create a list of the three main vulnerabilities you currently see in your product offerings.

3. Make a ranked list of your top three competitors – those organizations consistently taking the revenue you want. Go through #s 4 and 5 below for each of them.

4. Make a list of what you currently believe to be that competitor’s five greatest strengths as they relate to your company and offerings.

5. Make a list of what you currently see as that competitor’s three main vulnerabilities as they relate to your company and offerings.

6. Create a list of as many key features as possible that any competitor in the space you are selling into must offer. We call these “table stakes” or the cost of doing business. Don’t skip this step.

At this point, all you have done is foundational work.

This is where introspection and self-honesty become critical.

Are the five items you listed as your most significant strengths viewed as differentiators by your Buyers? Are they actually things you do better than your competition? Are they things your Buyers find to be valuable? If the answer to all three questions is not yes, you should not be leading with or to them in your sales and marketing efforts. Period.

Are your sales reps repeatedly chasing (and then losing) deals where your vulnerabilities are at issue? If so, you need to refine your ideal customer profile and retrain your reps to focus their time on that target.

When it comes to understanding your competition, you need to dig, then dig some more, and then finally dig even deeper. This is the area where too many organizations lose their way. It is difficult, mind-numbing work. It takes patience and thoughtful inference. It is not something that can be handed to interns or even entry-level hires. It takes the most experienced people in your organization to catch the subtleties that need to be uncovered.

Most organizations sell without regard to what their competitors do or may be saying. Those organizations that consistently exceed quota know that the easiest way to sell is to use contrast, not absolute terms. Note, this does not mean you call your competition out by name, but you must know how you are different and more valuable to be able to position generically against them. Remember, when a bear is chasing you and someone else in the woods, you don’t need to be an Olympic sprinter to survive. You simply need to run faster than the other guy.

For each competitor’s strengths and table stakes, note four things. Don’t ignore the table stakes. All too often, sellers think, “We do it. They do it. So, let’s not spend much time there.” Top-performing sales organizations know that just the opposite is true. Many of the best and most valuable differentiators are in how “standard” features are implemented.

1. What do they say they do? (usually on their website and in other marketing material)

2. What do they mean when they say it?

3. How do they deliver what they say they do?

4. How does it compare to how you do it?

Prepare your best response to each of these items from your organizational/product offerings standpoint.

Finally, outline the top five things that your Buyers find valuable that you deliver better than your competitors do. These will have been derived from the exercise above. If these five things are not the top five selling points you are focusing on right now, it is time for a refresh. Your go-to-market message is at least one of the reasons why sales rep attainment in your organization is failing to meet your expectations.

Source

The finding that buyers see no meaningful difference among the solutions they evaluate about 79% of the time comes from Primary Intelligence research (Primary Intelligence merged with Corporate Visions in 2023).